A liquid crystal display (LCD) may be illuminated by a backlight located behind a transmissive liquid crystal layer. The LCD may electronically control the transmittance of the backlight through each pixel of the liquid crystal layer to create an image on the screen. To conserve power, a dynamic backlight control (DBC) may be employed. The DBC may dynamically adjusts the brightness of the backlight based on the content of an image to be displayed on the LCD. For example, the DBC may reduce the brightness of the backlight (i.e., dim the backlight) when an overall gray shade of an image is lower (i.e., the image is darker), thereby conserving power.